BSNL may re-employ Indian Telecom Service officers under 58 years

KOLKATA: State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd will consider for re-employment in senior management slots only officers of the Indian Telecom Service who have at least two years of service left, according to a senior company executive.

The teleco's new recruitment rules will exclude most of the 44-odd Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officers of the rank of chief general manager (CGM) from being considered for re-absorption, as they fall in the over-58 age group. The retirement age at BSNL is 60.

"It's pointless bringing in senior executives on board who have less than two years of service left. As a result, many ITS officers of the rank of CGM may not be eligible for re-employment as they are already over 58," a top company executive with direct knowledge of the matter said.

BSNL is likely to consider non-ITS industry professionals with finance and civil or electrical engineering background for these slots if suitable candidates are not available in the existing ITS pool, another senior executive said. Till date, all BSNL circle heads have been ITS officers.

BSNL had more than 1,300 ITS officers who were deputed to it some 11 years ago when the telco was carved out as a separate corporate entity from the Department of Telecom (DoT). But last month, barring 13 officers, the entire ITS cadre comprising executives of the ranks of DGM, GM and above opted to return to the telecom department, robbing BSNL of its middle and top management.

Subsequently, the BSNL board has been exploring ways to bring back 700 of the best ITS officers through an emergency recruitment exercise.

Under the new recruitment rules, ITS officers eligible for re-absorption in BSNL will retire from government service and be re-employed in the telco. And to induce them to quit government service and return to BSNL, DoT may take over their pension liability, a senior government official said.

Last month, a majority of the ITS officers opted for a transfer to the telecom department, where the pension is higher. Had the 1,300-odd ITS officers opted to stay back at BSNL, then under the old rules, they would have been absorbed with retrospective effect from October 1, 2000. In such a scenario, they would have lost out on 11 years of central government pension, despite being ITS officers on deputation in BSNL.

To address such concerns, ITS officers considered for re-employment in BSNL may be allowed to retire from government service as on current date.